country bumpkin

Chapter 301 Working Selling Seafood

We're in the learning phase now. The previous worker was a tall girl, only 20 years old.

She's going home to get engaged and plans to start a small business with her fiancé. The family is anxious to find someone to replace her so she can mentor the new bride.

Kong Xiufen then introduced Yun Ya to the company.

It's still winter now. We've just passed the Lantern Festival and haven't finished the first month of the lunar calendar yet. The weather is still bitterly cold.

Today was Yunya's first day at work, and she was getting familiar with the environment. She stayed the whole afternoon.

This job requires getting up early in the morning, so meals and accommodation must be provided. If I go home, I'm worried I might be late the next day.

That night, Yunya lay in the small room that could only accommodate one person, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep.

To the west of this house is the train station. In the dead of night, the sound of train whistles and the rumble of trains can be heard very clearly.

Listening to the rumble of the train, Yunya managed to fall asleep. Just as she was about to drift off, the alarm clock rang from the next room, and she prepared to turn over and continue sleeping.

It was still dark at 5 a.m. on a winter morning, when most people were sound asleep. Li Mei was woken up by her alarm clock.

She rubbed her eyes, sat up, put on her clothes and shoes, went to the next room, and pushed open the door to go inside.

She turned on the light and called to Yunya to get up.

Yunya wasn't fast asleep. Suddenly, she heard Li Mei calling her. She rubbed her eyes and quickly sat up.

Li Mei called out, "Yun Ya, it's time to get up and get to work. Hurry up!"

Yunya quickly put on her clothes and shoes, quietly closed the door, and followed Li Mei to the boss's house.

They were staying at the owner's sister's house, which was also rented.

This house is quite large, with many rooms. The house the boss rents doesn't have as many rooms, so the workers have to run back and forth like this.

These workers get up early to start their work while the boss is still asleep. So they have to keep their voices down so as not to wake him.

It took about 10 minutes to walk to the front door of the boss's house. Li Mei knew the way well and reached her hand through the square opening in the gate from the outside.

The hand holding the key quickly unlocked the door, took out the lock, and then pulled the bolt to fully open the door.

Li Mei walked into the courtyard, took a flashlight, and opened the door to the side room. She felt for the light switch on the wall and turned on the light.

The house is filled with large pools, each containing different kinds of seafood.

The pool at the very front contains squid treated with chemicals. The squid arrive with ice plates.

The workers peeled the squid off the board one by one, gutted them, and cleaned them thoroughly before soaking them in the first pool.

The squid that has just had its innards removed is small and shriveled. After soaking overnight, the squid expands and becomes big, long, and plump, as if it has drunk enough water.

This way they could weigh the squid and sell them for more money. Li Mei and Yun Ya each took a large basket, wore waterproof gloves, and scooped all the squid from the pool into a large plastic bucket.

The pool was filled with squid, which was then carried by two people onto a tricycle in the yard.

Then, using a regular bucket, they carried the medicine from the pool and poured it into the gaps in the large plastic bucket.

Yunya then looked at the second pool, which contained sea cucumbers.

The day before, at noon, the boss cooked two large pots of sea cucumbers, cut open their bellies with scissors, removed the internal organs, cleaned them thoroughly, and then soaked them in a pool with added chemicals.

The sea cucumbers swelled several times their original size the next day. Yunya didn't know what kind of potion it was or whether it would harm her, but she was just a working person and couldn't think too much about it.

She figured it shouldn't be a big problem, otherwise wouldn't she be afraid of the authorities investigating?

Using the same method, they scooped the sea cucumbers into another large plastic bucket using a basket. The two then loaded the bucket back onto the tricycle and refilled it with water containing added chemicals.

The third pool contained tripe. Yun Ya didn't know what it was made of, or if it was the same as beef tripe. She only knew that it was also soaked in a medicinal solution overnight.

Now Yunya just wants to know whether the potion is used to increase size and weight, or to brighten the color to make the goods look better.

She noticed that Li Mei always wore waterproof gloves while working, and guessed that the medicine would cause illness if it came into contact with the skin for too long.

So she followed suit and carefully wore waterproof gloves while working.

After finishing the goods in this room, they went to the second room next door.

This place is full of scallops, clams, oysters, shrimp... and many other kinds of things that Yunya has never seen before.

I don't know when these things arrived; I didn't see them when I went to sleep last night.

They were all loaded onto the tricycle, one basin at a time, and then placed on top of large plastic barrels.

Everything was loaded into the car, and it was already past 6 o'clock. The boss's husband also got up.

After he woke up, he went to the toilet, washed his face when he came back, packed his wallet and scales, and then pushed his tricycle to the market.

Li Mei pushed the tricycle hard from behind, and Yun Ya followed suit.

The three of them worked together to push the tricycle and the load of goods to the front of the stall.

After parking the tricycle and securing the wheels, the two adults began unloading various basins.

The basins were placed neatly on the sales counter. They then began to display the squid, sea cucumber, and tripe.

At this point, the large barrel was filled with water, except for the goods. Even the boss's men couldn't move it, so they could only pour out one-third of the goods and put them on the sales counter.

This way, we don't have to carry the big plastic buckets down. The scale is also taken out and set up properly, just waiting for customers to come in.

During this break, Li Mei began to tell Yun Ya the prices of various products, as well as the size and thickness of the bags needed to pack them.

Products of different weights require bags of different sizes and thicknesses. Yunya listened to what was said in the back while looking at what was said in the front, feeling utterly dejected.

Seeing Yunya's blank expression, Li Mei smiled and comforted her, "It's okay, you've only just arrived. Don't worry, you'll remember it slowly."

Yunya thought that Sister Li Mei was a really nice person, kind and approachable, and she felt no sense of unfamiliarity at all. She really hoped to work with her forever.

It's a pity they're leaving; otherwise, the boss wouldn't have needed to find someone else to do the work.

Yun Ya had no idea that Li Mei was afraid Yun Ya wouldn't be able to handle it and would run away. Before Yun Ya came, two other little girls had tried it out, but they left after one day and never came back.

Adults who want to do this kind of work think the pay is too low and nobody wants to do it. Little girls can't do it either; they can't endure hardship and simply can't keep up.

Li Mei kindly persuaded Yun Ya to stay, because the boss said that she could only resign and go home if a new person was found.

Otherwise, they won't pay her wages, claiming it's because it's interfered with her business.

Yunya hadn't left home much, and this was her first job besides helping out at her aunt's house.

It's generally fine at my aunt's house, but since she's an outsider, I feel very reserved and can't relax a bit when working for someone else.